Shotgun weddings, kidnapping, attempted murder, emergency dental workâ€”the things Don Vincenzo will do to restore his family's honor! Pietro Germi's Seduced and Abandoned was the follow-up to his international sensation Divorce Italian Style, and in many ways it's even more audaciousâ€”a rollicking yet raw series of escalating comic calamities that ensue in a small village when sixteen-year-old Agnese (the beautiful Stefania Sandrelli) loses her virginity at the hands of her sister's lascivious fiance. Merciless and mirthful, Seduced and Abandoned skewers Sicilian social customs and pompous patriarchies with a sly, devilish grin.

Back when middle-class couples turned to foreign films for an acceptably racy evening out, a title like "Seduced and Abandoned" was catnip. Forty-two years later, the title is better known than the movie itself. And you can't help wondering, with this new Criterion edition, if Pietro Germi's film will ruffle sensitive contemporary sensibilities. The picture is about as brutal as a comedy can be and still be funny. Nobody will feel much like laughing when Don Vincenzo (Saro Urzi), a Sicilian patriarch, slaps around his beautiful daughter Agnese (the radiant Stefania Sandrelli), who has been impregnated by her sister's fiancé. But let's be clear about who's slapping around whom. Germi's film is a desecration of honor and family, the very values Don Vincenzo holds dear. Compassion did not exactly flow through Germi's veins. Clarity did. "Seduced and Abandoned" is so bracing precisely because Germi refuses to blunt his meanings with sops to fairness. A society where women can be treated so brutishly in the name of honor and family, Germi is saying, deserves to be called backward and barbaric because it is. This is the sort of place where Agnese's seducer, the mama's boy cad Peppino (Aldo Puglisi), can give her the reputation of a whore in the eyes of society, and then feel justified in announcing he wouldn't want to marry a woman who would let herself be dishonored in such a fashion. Whoredom, marriage or the nunnery are the options open to women, and Germi doesn't deny the part the Roman Catholic Church plays in the maintenance of that sexual hypocrisy. His wickedest bit of caricature is the way he links the quietly suffering face of Ms. Sandrelli to the icons of the Virgin that populate the movie. Germi implies that the reverence paid both is largely a function of their not being able to talk back. When our contemporary bromides about cultural tolerance have us shying away from naming the places where intolerance exists, this ruthless comedy about the twin tyrannies of honor and religion becomes even more potent. (Criterion, Aug. 22, $29.95) CHARLES TAYLOR

There's no getting around the element of boredom that hangs over even Mr. Rohmer's best films.

Another NY Times Reviewer regurgitates a deadline-saving google search. But that's what the NYT does- hire good writers and pay them to learn their subject on the fly.

Why would you assume that? I assure you that Charles Taylor knows his subject well. He was Salon's film critic for many years, and is one of the most knowledgeable and astute critics writing in English.

Taylor has also written articles for Sight & Sound, Film Comment and the New Yorker, among others, so it seems rather pointless to attack him for picking up a piece in the NYTimes every so often.

Langlois68 wrote:

I hope it's better than Divorce, Italian Style...

I prefer Divorce, but...

"A grotesque comic tour de force, combining the sharp delineation of character typical of the Italian comic film with interesting stylistic effects. Seduced and Abandoned's chilling vision of how traditional social values can destroy an individual, especially a woman with a mind of her own, is tempered only by brief moments of undeniable comic relief" --Peter Bondanella

Possibilities:Seduced and Abondoned (Rumored)Bitter Rice (Janus)Senso Without PityKapo (Rumored)Under the Olive TreesIn the Name of the FatherEuropa '51 (Janus)The BanditThe Mattei Affair

I will be very very happy with a Criterion issued "Senso", "Europa 51", "Under the Olive Trees", and "The mattei Affair". The Pal2 "Bitter rice" is excellent so I don't care about a Criterion release here. However, if Criterion can consider Santis's "Rome 11:00" that will make my day.

Yes, this is magnificent news (especially since I just got into Rohmer recently, and love him). I'll buy it the week it comes out.

And the only Germi I've seen is "Divorce, Italian Style," which I thought was wonderful, so I'll be seeing "Seduced" as well. Of course though, I think more Italian cinema is always welcome (love that cap of Stefania!).

Great news about the Rohmer set. A s for the Germi, I already have a remastered print from Italy (same series as released Riso Amaro, which I also have). It's a gorgeous print and, if Criterion use the same print, everyone will be happy.

Friend what do you mean? It's got a Germi documentary, a seperate extra with interviews, and another seperate extra with screen test, plus essay and trailer. Another barebones Germi release? DIVORCE ITALIAN STYLE was a deluxe 2-disc hi-end special edition.

Bare bones is KWAIDAN, bare bones is NAKED KISS, with the film, and a tiny essay. A trailer is the "extra".